Visiting
Hollywood

A
visitor's guide

Hollywood
story - in brief

Once
upon a time, Hollywood was just a bit of empty land not too far from
Los Angeles. That was over
100 years ago. At the start of the 20th century, America's
movie industry was based in New York; but very soon
fledgeling movie-makers, working in an innovative and risky business,
found that everything in New York was too expensive for them; workers,
land, taxation. In addition, there was also the problem that
movie-making in New York was a seasonal activity; you couldn't make
movies outdoors in winter, because it was too cold and there
was often snow on the ground.
By 1905, when the Union Pacific
railroad completed a direct rail link from Chicago via Salt
Lake City, the journey time from New York to Los Angeles had come down
to about four days, trains were comfortable, and the first sleeping car
services were in operation. So to keep on filming in the winter
months, movie-makers made the trip west, and found a place
where they could make films throughout the year. And as an added
incentive, everything in California was cheaper - including land and
labor. And there was lots of land available.
Before long, a number of movie-makers
decided to abandon New York altogether and set up permanent facilities
at the foot of some small hills just outside Los Angeles in an area
called Hollywood. After that, the rest, as they say, is
history.

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How to get to Hollywood:

From LAX - Los Angeles
Airport. Cheapest
solution, just $8 . Take the non-stop Flyaway Bus from outside any
terminal. Buses run every hour, and the journey takes about an hour.
Tickets may be bought
on the bus using visa or mastercard,
or online here .
From Downtown Los Angeles - A twenty-minute
metro train trip (red route)

Discover
Hollywood

Central to any
discovery of Hollywood, and the first must-do, has to be a walk, on
foot, along the central stretch of Hollywood
Boulevard, known as the
Walk of Fame.
This is Hollywood's tribute to it's own, and in true
Hollywood style, the tributes are not just to the dead and famous, but
to living Hollywood icons too. Walk slowly down the sidewark,
and
spot the stars you know... They're all there, over 2,600 of them, from
historic figures like Charlie Chaplin (by 6751 Hollywood Bvd.), through
iconic musicians such as John Lennon or Janis Joplin, to contemporary
stars like Johnny Depp.. as well as a load of B-movie stars that you
are liable to have never heard of.

You can spend hours on,
and just off, Hollywood Boulevard, with its shops, theaters, Madame
Tussauds, the Museum
of Death (only in Hollywood !), restaurants, fast
food outlets, and lots more.
To go further afield, take the
hop-on hop-off bus, hire a bicycle or join a tour and head on
up
to Beverly Hills
to admire the fabulous mansions of the stars and the
movie moguls. Don't expect to catch a glimpse of someone really famous.
It can happen, but the mansions of Beverly Hills are set in their
private grounds, behind protective hedges and fencing.
Beyond
Beverly Hills, it's another seven miles (12 km) to the seaside at Santa
Monica, Hollywood's closest beach. The sea front is liable
to be packed
with visitors on a warm sunny day, specially at weekends. The pier,
with its amusement park, aquarium, ferris wheel, shops and restaurants
is a big attraction.

The second must-do is a
Hollywood studio
visit. There are three working Hollywood
studios
that offer tours; Sony - formerly MGM - (in Culver city), Paramount (in
Hollywood) and Warner Bros (in Burbank). In addition, you can
visit an actual studio at Universal Studios; Universal
Studios,
located at the edge of Burbank, is one of Los Angeles' most popular
attractions, is actually a movie theme park, but it does include the
Universal studios too.
Driving from Hollywood to Burbank, you
will drive below the iconic white H
O L L Y W O O D sign, on a hilltop
in Griffith Park. Also on a hilltop in Griffith Park is the Griffith
obsevatory, which is well worth a visit. On the one hand
it offers
great views over Los Angeles, and also to the Hollywood sign, and is
very popular with photographers. On the other hand the Observatory is
also a free science museum, devoted to astronomy and the stars (but not
the Hollywood kind of stars). One word of warning; there can be traffic
congestion at weekends.

Top Hollywood attractions

Hollywood Boulevard - the walk of fame

Hop-on hop-off bus tours

Universal studios

Warner Bros studios

Santa Monica and Venice Beach

Beverly Hills

Griffith park and observatory

Even more than the
stars on the Walk of Fame, there is one image that
epitomises Hollywood, and it's the white H O L L Y W O O D sign on the
hillside above the city. You can't actually visit the sign. It's in a
protected area surrounded by wire fencing. The best place to view the
sign from is from close to the observatory at Griffin
Park.

Hollywood
for tourists

Once Hollywood was mainly about movies
and TV; now it's about movies, TV and tourism. The central Hollywod
area is compact enough to be visited on foot, and there are tour buses
and public transportation to get visitors to places slightly further
afield. If you want to "do" Hollywood, you can easily spend three days
here without seeing everything there is to see.